Man who bound and raped a pensioner before leaving her trapped in a cupboard has minimum jail term cut

Sentence cut: Wendell Baker left his pensioner victim Hazell Blackwell trapped in her home

A rapist who tied up and attacked a pensioner before leaving her bound and trapped in her home as had his minimum jail term slashed.

Wendell Baker, 56, raped his elderly victim in her bedroom in east London, having tied her hands behind her back with flex and beaten her.

He then ransacked her house and left her trapped in a cupboard after breaking in while she was sleeping in January 1997.

His terrified victim, 66-year-old Hazel Blackwell, was found by her neighbour George Walpole the next evening having feared she would die where she had been left by her tormentor.

The attack left her too afraid to continue living alone or go out by herself and she died in 2002 with "a very sad and broken heart", her family said.

Baker had once been cleared of the brutal attack, but was jailed under the amended "double jeopardy" law which allows people charged with serious crimes to face retrial in certain circumstances. Last year's life sentenced followed the a "one in a billion DNA match" being found.

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Three judges at the Court of Appeal today ruled that a life sentence had been justified, but reduced his minimum term to eight years and six months - the period he must serve behind bars before becoming eligible to apply for parole.

Mr Justice Simon, sitting with the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and Mr Justice Irwin, stressed: "He will, of course, only be released when it is safe to do so."

Judge Rook said: "It must be the case that but for the fact that it was a Thursday and Mr Walpole passed by, she was likely to have died as a result.

"It seems to me it's difficult to find a case of more serious rape during the course of a burglary, short of where the victim is either killed or caused very serious harm."

Baker was arrested in October 1998 on suspicion of rape and provided a DNA sample which matched the DNA profile of swabs taken from Ms Backwell.

He had previously provided a DNA sample in January 1998 which also matched samples taken from Ms Backwell.

But he walked free from court after a judge decided the case could not proceed following legal argument at the start of the original trial in 1999.

A change in the law in 2005 allowed a person cleared of a serious offence to face retrial in certain circumstances, but when the case was reviewed in 2007, it was found that much of the evidence had been lost or destroyed.

The case was reopened in 2009 and Baker, from Walthamstow, north east London, but of no fixed address, was arrested in 2011.

He gave further DNA samples matching those found on swabs taken from Ms Backwell with a probability "in the order of one in a billion", the court heard.

Jamaican-born Baker denied raping Ms Backwell, telling the court he had been framed by police, who he claimed had hounded him for years.

The Crown Court heard he had been in and out of prison since the 1970s for a range of offences including burglary, theft and actual bodily harm.